Fat Studies?

The exact amount of attrition is impossible to pinpoint, but members of fat academia have noticed the scarcity of plus-size silhouettes on campus—particularly in exclusive private schools, where Fat Studies is most likely to be funded and taught. “The more elite a campus is, the fewer people you will see who are anything but ideal weight,” says Rothblum, explaining that in addition to being daunting to fat students, top-tier schools tend to attract applicants from stronger socioeconomic backgrounds, who are much less likely to be overweight.

Fight the POWER.

The Fat Studies movement is really important and valuable for smaller people to participate in,” says Linda Bacon, a professor at City College of San Francisco and the author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. “The imperative of thinness in our culture is not based on science, and it causes a lot of pain.” From the activist’s perspective, thinner students might be the ideal targets of a Fat Studies course, because they’re both the victims and the perpetrators of weight stigma.

So, I’m a victim AND a perp? I thought I just like running and fitting into my size 4s.

In an article published last year on CampusReform.org, Abigail Alger, a manager at the Leadership Institute in Washington D.C., wrote that the subject is “part of a dangerous dumbing down of liberal education in which the pursuit of knowledge is replaced by frantic social programming and promotion of state programs.” The discipline, Alger argued, doesn’t encourage open debate, but instead “begins with the end in mind,” and brands as a bigot anyone who disagrees.